. Atiku begs US President , Help us fight insecurity
The United States (US) president, Joe Biden, on Wednesday signed an executive order to repeal the travel ban on citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Yemen, Sudan and others.
The travel ban was initiated by his predecessor, Donald Trump, when he first entered office. Also repealed was a 2017 travel ban on people from several predominantly Muslim countries.
Out of the 17 executive orders, memorandums and proclamations revealed on Wednesday, six dealt with immigration — mostly an attempt to undo some controversial Trump-era policies.
Biden had referred to the policy as discriminatory.
The move to repeal the ban according to DW has been hailed by several civil rights organization, including the American Civil Liberties Union, which called the policy a “cruel Muslim ban that targeted Africans.”
Biden has also ordered that the construction of a border wall near Mexico be halted, a move that was welcomed by the neighbouring country. The wall was one of Trump’s pet projects during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Other major immigration orders passed by the incoming president include reversing plans to exclude people who are in the country illegally from the 2020 census and preserving Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). This program has shielded hundreds of thousands of people who came to the country as children from deportation.
However, the most ambitious immigration reform to be undertaken by Biden will be a bill that gives legal status and provides a path to citizenship to anyone in the country before January 1. It comes to an estimated 11 million people. The bill also aims to reduce the time that family members must wait outside the US for green cards.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday asked newly inaugurated US leaders – Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – to support Nigeria’s fight against terror and remove all travel restrictions imposed on Nigerian citizens by the Donald Trump administration.
Since 2009, Nigeria has battled an insurgency across its northeast region and bandit attacks have increased in recent years.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar on Thursday asked newly inaugurated US leaders – Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – to support Nigeria’s fight against terror and remove all travel restrictions imposed on Nigerian citizens by the Donald Trump administration.
Since 2009, Nigeria has battled an insurgency across its northeast region and bandit attacks have increased in recent years.
The Trump administration, in a four-year crackdown on immigration into the US, also passed policies that restricted Nigerians and other countries from pursuing long-term visits to the world’s largest economy.
In a tweet, Atiku said Nigeria has enjoyed good relations with the US since 1961, and US support will help nurture the nation’s democracy.
“As @POTUS, @JoeBiden begins his tenure as the 46th President of the United States of America, I am confident that this new era will mark America’s regeneration and her reaffirmation as the beacon of democracy to the world,” Atiku said.
“As I congratulate President Biden and @VP, @KamalaHarris, I urge them and their administration to strengthen US-Nigeria ties, and help our beloved nation’s war on terror by providing every type of support required to win our war against the insurgency we face.
“I also look forward to the removal of every travel restriction on Nigerian citizens, in keeping with the good relations that has existed between our two nations beginning with the July 27, 1961 state visit of our first Prime Minister, Alhaji Tafawa Balewa, to President John F Kennedy, and continuing over the decades since then.
“As the playwright, George Bernard Shaw once said, America and Nigeria are two nations divided by a common language. And millions of Nigerians and I wish to see that relationship sustained to the mutual benefit of both our democratic nations.
“Congratulations once again and may God bless both our nations and bring about a beneficial tenure for your administration.”
